1. So, to resume, Leon Wieseltier, a paragon of American high culture, once belonged to a racist terrorist organization.
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Replying to @HeerJeet
2. In 1969, at age 17, Wieseltier became follower of the Rabbi Meir Kahane, founder of the vigilante group the Jewish Defense League (JDL)
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Replying to @HeerJeet
3. The JDL was animated by both anti-black and anti-Arab racism, an application of Israeli nationalism to Brooklyn crime problem.
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Replying to @HeerJeet
4. In the 1970s, taking up the cause of Soviet Jewry, the JDL started bombing Soviet embassies and other political sites in the USA.
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Replying to @HeerJeet
5. Wieseltier writes about time in JDL in this very intelligent dissection/repudiation of Kahanism: http://www.scribd.com/doc/232898011/The-Demons-of-the-Jews-by-Leon-Wieseltier … (via
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Replying to @HeerJeet
6. We should be clear in this piece and elsewhere Wieseltier rejects Kahanism in the most strenuous terms possible.
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Replying to @HeerJeet
7. While sins of youth shouldn't be held against the mature man, Wieseltier's Kahanist adventure is not without biographical significance
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Replying to @HeerJeet
8. Wieseltier's tendency to over-rate voices of moderation like Trilling & Isaiah Berlin seems like reaction against his own Kahanist past
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Replying to @HeerJeet
9. RT
@matthunte Which would appear different from the usual "True Believer" move from one extreme to another..2 replies 2 retweets 1 like -
Replying to @HeerJeet
10. Perhaps Trilling/Berlin serve as the super-ego that helps keep the Kahanist id under control.
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11. But perhaps also editing book reviews has given Wieseltier a channel for anger that in other JDL members led to terrorism & death.
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Replying to @HeerJeet
Jeet Heer Retweeted Jeet Heer
12. I wasn't completely joking when I compared Wieseltier to Sideshow Bob:https://twitter.com/HeerJeet/status/533484524437381122 …
Jeet Heer added,
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Replying to @HeerJeet
13. Anyone who has read Wieseltier's prose or his book review section knows there is a lot of barely controlled anger at work.
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